The news industry is frantically searching for solutions and new directions. Poynter Online is searching for answers of a different sort: career success stories. We will be bringing you how-they-did-it snapshots from people who have faced today's employment challenges and found some measure of success. Joe Grimm
BATTINTO BATTS
Current job: Independent contractor, running my own public relations and marketing business,
Batts' Communications, LLC.; journalism professor at Hampton University; small-business owner, focusing on developing targeted Web content strategies.
Used to: Started with the
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch in 1987 as a copy boy and worked full-time for the
Times-Dispatch, the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel,
The Daily Press in Virginia,
The Virginian-Pilot (twice) and Poynter's
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. My most recent newspaper was the
Pilot, where I covered business, was a recruiter and then director of educational programs in circulation and manager of the electronic edition. I left in December.
I switched because: I had no choice, but welcomed the change because I had a plan.
I'm lucky that: I got my master's degree in media and communications and started building relationships outside of the newspaper industry two years in advance of my departure. I didn't wait until I
had to start looking. I was networking and doing things to prepare myself.
The hardest part was: Juggling several different things at once, trying to keep my future plans separate from my job and avoiding conflicts.
I learned that: There is no need to have hard feelings about the decline of the newspaper industry. It is a business. And when you run your own business, you realize that people who work for you are important and valued, but are also an expense. Businesses have to keep expenses under control if they are to survive. Once you see it that way, it is easier to accept cuts and changes. It's not personal; it's business.
My advice: The advice my grandfather gave me as a 10-year-old: "Always have a backup plan. Always have something to fall back on."
If you know of a career success story that might be helpful to other Poynter Online readers, please e-mail Joe Grimm at joe.grimm@gmail.com.
